Blake Lively Awarded Only $400K In Justin Baldoni Suit

A federal judge has ordered Justin Baldoni to pay Blake Lively over $400,000 in legal fees, following their high-profile dispute over It Ends With Us. Lively was awarded $363,000 in lawyers' fees and $44,000 in costs, far below her initial $8 million request. Her lawyers initially sought $7.5 million in fees, alongside $500,000 in expenses used to defend against Baldoni's defamation lawsuit. Judge Louis J. Lyman ruled that Lively could only recover fees directly linked to her defense against Baldoni's initial defamation claims. Lyman noted that California law allows survivors to recover costs from retaliatory lawsuits, but this didn't cover all of Baldoni's claims. Lively's attorneys called the decision historic, claiming that Baldoni's $400 million countersuit aimed to "...stifle public criticism and silence Blake Lively." In his countersuit, Baldoni claimed Lively sought to ruin his career by alleging he created a toxic workplace on set and coordinated a smear campaign against her.